Recommendation? Drill Bits for steel

Outdoor Gear Dad

Outdoor Gear Dad

Joined
Jun 1, 2019
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Hello All I am new to knife making. I am using some crappy drill bits right now drilling through my annealed steel. It’s painful to say the least.

would like a recommendation for the best bits to drill through annealed steel.

links from the website or amazon are always helps.

thanks in advance!
 
for fully annealed steel, really almost any reasonable drill bit will do - you just need to make sure they are SHARP. Also, technique in drilling through steel is very important. I am not an expert in this - I would recommend going to YouTube - there are some good general machinist videos out there on drilling through steel. The basic points to keep in mind are: 1) slow drill speed, 2) sharp bits, 3) moderate and CONTINUOUS pressure. all the above should result in your drilling out spirals of metal - if you get chips something is wrong. If you use too light a pressure- you will not really cut the steel, but will overheat it and deform it locally - which will easily result in your locally work hardening the steel in the hole - which will make it REALLY difficult to continue drilling (dont ask me how I know that for sure :) ). People disagree on the need for cutting oil. My own take on that is that you want to cut the steel as you drill, and any lubrication gets in the way of that, and also that if you think of the oil as being for cooling - if you need it you are doing something wrong (dull bit or too light a pressure.

It really is kind of cool to see a bit go through metal, and just kick out spirals of metal at it goes.
 
Outdoor Gear Dad said:
Hello All I am new to knife making. I am using some crappy drill bits right now drilling through my annealed steel. It’s painful to say the least.

would like a recommendation for the best bits to drill through annealed steel.

links from the website or amazon are always helps.

thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I can't recommend any brand , because I m in Europe but you look for this if you want quality ......... HSS precision ground from M35 high speed steel bars with 5% cobalt
 
Yes on Hss Co 5%. But also, good quality normal Hss (like the Dewalt Extreme-2 with their excellent centering point) will have no problem even with stainless steels like RWL and AEB-L. My experience.
 
I get mine through either USA Knifemaker or Mcmaster Carr. HSS-Co as mentioned.
 
My first day as an Apprentice Machinist the "Old Man" handed me his box of dull drill bits to sharpen...Now as I'm the Old Man this tradition continues with the New Guy sharpening Drill Bits....It's valuable lesson and Tool to be able to Sharpen Bits!!! Once you learn you can have nice sharp bits without having to wait on the mail and stop production.
 
Buy good bits. Annealed steel is so soft you can almost push your finger though it. Small drills need to run fast, use 280 divided by drill diameter to determine spindle speed. If you are getting screeching noise, stop right away and #1 drop your spindle speed #2 make you you haven't knocked the corners off the drill. I cheat and run small drills between 600-1000 rpm. Use a pecking motion, and use coolant. Don't drive the drill though, as you drill you will feel the drill cutting don't push harder than that. if you do you will eat the drill and make an over sized and or oval hole, or if you are really lucky it will do both and break the drill. Good luck. the most important is to listen and feel what the drill is doing, if you ignore it, bad stuff happens. With good technique you can put a hundred or more holes with a drill before you have to sharpen it. Use a real center drill and only spot with it only put it in to the end of the FIRST taper ( the tip). If you go too deep all the load is on the drill corners, that will eat drills.
 
I had a hard time drilling bolsters until I bought some drill hog m42 bits. They cut like butter and have a lifetime gaurentee.

I like the suggestions though about buying 10 in the sizes you need.
 
The OP does not mention what drilling setup he is using. "New to knifemaking" may mean he is using a handheld drill?

If so, the best advice is probably to buy a drill press.

Other than that: HSS-Co is usually better, all else being equal, but it's not a magic bullet.

Always use the shortest drillbit that will do the job: Where possible, use stub-length drills as the shorter length means they are much stiffer than jobber-length drills and you need to louse things up a bit more to break them. This is particularly important with a hand-held drill.

If you use a rigid setup (drill press), you can use the "better" drills effectively. The "better" drills tend to be harder and therefore more brittle so, unless you are very good indeed, with a handheld drill you will just break a lot more of the expensive drills.
 
Drill bits are hard to find in a hardware store
The HF sets are carbon steel, bad material, wrong sized, bad heat treat, bent, and so on.

It’s all confused by marketing bullsiht.



They often refer to Titanium, Black oxide, gold something

That’s just the coating on the drill

You want

“Jobber length Twist drill”

“HSS High Speed Steel”

Preferably you want Cobalt High speed steel HSS-CO
If you can find one in a hardware store, they are charging way too much for it.

For knife making you want sizes they don’t sell in the hardware store.


If you have a ¼” pin that measures .250” and you drill a ¼” hole in the steel and the wood to pass the pin, It shall not pass.

You need a slightly larger hole that you look to the letter and number size drills

A letter “F” drill .257 is ideal to pass the pin and allow for some glue.

It amounts to a hairs breadth clearance all around the pin.


If you’re building a workbench, you want a fractional index and you drill two sizes larger (1/32”) than the bolt you are putting in the hole.


Get a 6” stainless import dial caliper and a free tap drill decimal equivalent chart.

This all assumes you’re using a drill press. Hand drilling straight is impossible.

Good point above on drill speed.
A 1/4 drill in steel can be run at say 1,000 rpm according to charts.
but don't go that fast. Slow your speeds way down, nothing wrong with 250 rpm

Find a local MRO dealer
KBC tool, Travers tool, Sowa Tool

Get the PDF catalogues and read them. There’s plenty to learn

A brand name for USA drills is Norseman, and others


I like these

http://www.sowatool.com/Product/4/260/509

Note you can get all fractional, letter, number sizes
 
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Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
And buy them in 10 packs of the sizes you need. Few knifemakers need more than three drill sizes.
Click to expand...

Can't agree more, I always have several unused M35 cobalt steel drills in 3mm, 3/16mm and 1/4mm these are by far my most used sizes, the metric one for bolsters and the imperial for the corbys. Also is good to have solid carbide versions of them for these times when you forget to make a hole or a late design change and the knife is already hardened.

Pablo
 
Viking / Norseman are good drills, made in Minnesota. I also like Guhring, MA Ford, OSG, Walter and Hertel (an MSC house brand).

Try to buy from an industrial supply house local to you. MSC, Travers, Fastenal, McMaster, Grainger, and countless local shops. Even the house brands of the industrial distributors are good quality, as most of their sales are to manufacturers. If you can set up an account at one of these places, or know someone with an account, there are significant discounts to be had.

Stay far, far away from the likes of Harbor Freight, Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, and Ace Hardware (and similar chains). Amazon is not really a good source either, unless you already know EXACTLY what you want.

Personally, I prefer (uncoated, HSS) screw machine length drills for metal. They're shorter and more rigid than jobber length and make a more accurately sized hole. And don't waste your money on a coating, like TiN or TiAlN. You have to use a CNC machine to get any real benefit.

I'm not sure what you're drilling, or planning on making. If it's something more precision (like a folder pivot), remember a reamer is the only way to get a round and accurately sized hole. I only make fixed blades (for now) and still use reamers on my pin holes to get the right fit.

Here are some links to check out:

https://www.mcmaster.com/drill-bits/=c4d64ddd2e6340e9964929ed89690896k4y9i4bf

https://www.travers.com/stub-drills/c/297815/

https://www.fastenal.com/product/cu...347?categoryId=602347&level=3&isExpanded=true

https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn...crew-Machine-Length-Drill-Bits?navid=12106190
 
I dunno if they’re the best price but I get mine from DrillHog on eBay. I bought 10 packs in 1/16”, 1/8”, 5/32”, 3/16”, 1/4”, and 3/8”. I have a LOT of the 1/8” and 1/4” and glad I bought in bulk cuz it sucked before when all I had was a couple Dewalt bits to use.
 
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